American Greetings being taken private for $602 million

by Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) American Greetings has agreed to be taken private for about $602 million by a group led by some of its top executives.

The greeting card and gift seller said Monday that a group formed by the Weiss family, including Chairman Morry Weiss and CEO Zev Weiss and others, will buy the shares of the company they don't already own for $18.20 a piece in cash.

This is a 13 percent premium to American Greetings Corp.'s closing price of $16.10 last Thursday.

The Weiss family initially offered to buy the Cleveland company in September for $17.18 per share.

The company values the entire deal at $878 million including assumed debt and a dividend.

In addition to its namesake brand, American Greetings also owns Carlton Cards, Recycled Paper Greetings and Papyrus.